Lanett needs a superhero.
It has an unemployment rate double the national average, almost 21 percent of the city's population lives below the poverty line and the per capita income is under $16,000.
And since 2000, Lanett's job growth is negative, meaning jobs have decreased by 15 percent, and the school system spends thousands less per child than the national average.
As a result, some of its long-time residents migrated elsewhere.
But Friday afternoon offered a glimmer of hope for this struggling city. The Fuller Center for Housing brought hundreds of volunteers to help several Lanett families.
Few events can bring a community together like this one, said Bill Scott, president of the Chattahoochee Fuller Center Project.
"Events like this can rebuild communities and neighborhoods," Scott said.
For one week they built six new houses and renovated eight others. The volunteers came from all over the country and world.
How was Lanett picked? Millard Fuller, who helped millions of people worldwide with his organization Habitat for Humanity, grew up in Lanett.
Fuller, an Auburn graduate, started planning last year for this project as a way to celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary with Linda Fuller.
After he passed away in February, his family and those who knew him continued working and developing his final project.
Linda, Millard's wife and business partner, worried she would spend the anniversary alone, their daughter Faith Fuller said.
Instead, she was surrounded by hundreds of people her husband had inspired and helped throughout his years of service.
In the project's first year, there are over 100 houses being built in nine countries.
The organization decided to build in the Jackson Heights area, which is an economically depressed area of Lanett.
"The goal was to build affordable housing and to rebuild these communities and neighborhoods," Scott said.
Faith Fuller, Millard's daughter and the director of communications for the Fuller Center for Housing, played a part in keeping the ball rolling.
"He wouldn't want us to stop," Fuller said. "Hundreds of people showed up. And (Sunday) in Atlanta they're dedicating a house they've been working on."
The Fuller Center for Housing gets hundreds of requests a year, sometimes from the families and sometimes someone from the community reaches out and sees a neighbor who needs help.
But the process to get a house isn't easy.
Families selected for new houses have to go through a credit and background check.
They also agree to volunteer 350 hours of "sweat equity" toward their homes.
"A lot of times families see the work and change their minds," Fuller said. "Families also have to learn about money management. It's a complete makeover."
Renovations go to families whose houses need less than $5,000 worth of work and don't have the funds to do it.
Millard Fuller had a dream to provide affordable housing to those in need all over the world, Faith Fuller said.
Spoford, a volunteer, met Millard Fuller four years ago, and his inspiration led her to become a part of the Fuller Center for Housing.
Spoford has lived in Lanett for more than 11 years and said the effect of an event like this can be seen all over Lanett.
"It has a ripple effect in surrounding neighborhoods as well as the entire community," Spoford said.
Those interested in volunteering for the Fuller Center can go to its Web site fullercenter.org and click on 'Get Involved' to learn more.
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